Victoria created the scatterplot below based on the data in the table for the ages and heights of some teachers in her school.

Question

Teacher Age vs. Height
Teacher
Age
Height (in.)
1
36
62
2
28
70
3
50
60
4
44
72
5
58
68
6
24
65

A graph titled Teacher Age versus height has age on the x-axis and height (inches) on the y-axis. Points are at (22, 66), (28, 70), (35, 62), (42, 72), (60, 50) and (59, 69).
She wants to see if a teacher’s height depends on his or her age. What did she do wrong when she created the scatterplot?
She mixed up the independent and dependent variables.
She labeled the x-axis of the scatterplot “Age” when she should have labeled it “Teacher.”
She plotted the point (36, 62) when she shouldn’t have.
She mixed up the x- and y-coordinates of the point representing teacher 3.

Answer 1

The issue with Victoria's scatterplot is that she mixed up the independent and dependent variables. In this context, teacher age is the independent variable (typically placed on the x-axis), and height is the dependent variable (placed on the y-axis). Therefore, the correct response is:

She mixed up the independent and dependent variables.